Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Got back?

Last night I was finally able to break some new ground training back. I'd had a pretty unsuccessful back workout the week prior and was completely dreading this workout. The original plan was to train with one of the girls who I'm helping prep for Eastern USA's, but last minute I opted to hook up with an old training partner, which is almost a garaunteed solid training session. There are just some people who you have a sick chemistry with in the gym, and he's one of them. He knows exactly when I'm being a big baby and need that little push in the right direction to get me back on track. Lucky for me, he had my back last night--no pun intended. Despite being in his own funk (he's prepping for Eastern USA's in November also), he managed to help me get through this plateau. I finally got 280 for 5. It wasn't exactly pretty, but I got 'em and they were solid. Since I didn't have another 5 in me to go up in weight, I thought I'd venture in to completely new territory and see if I could get 315 up off the floor for at least one....I did, and it was clean and strong. That was a huge mental breakthrough for me. One thing I really need to work on is my explosiveness. I haven't quite figured that out yet. Anyway, the rest of the workout flowed incredibly well, following up deads with wide grip pull downs, bent over bb rows, close grip pull downs, and finishing with one arm T-bars. It's funny, back is easily one of my favorite and strongest body parts to train, yet it's one of my weaker body parts on stage (I have no width). So, that's something I really need to focus on this offseason. Fortunately, my waist is tiny (well, when I'm prepping at least), so it helps balance out my mini-lats to some degree. But I know with a little more width back there, it would make a world of difference on my overall symmetry. Maybe this is the year....